A thrilling new biography of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky—composer of some of the world’s most popular orchestral and theatrical music
Simon Morrison Reihenfolge der Bücher
Simon Morrison ist eine führende Autorität auf dem Gebiet des Komponisten Sergej Prokofjew. Seine Arbeit untersucht vor allem, wie Kunst in totalitären Regimen funktioniert, und beleuchtet die komplexe Beziehung zwischen kreativer Freiheit und politischem Druck. Morrison analysiert die Art und Weise, wie Künstler gezwungen sind, ihre Werke an ideologische Forderungen anzupassen, und wie diese Wechselwirkung das Endprodukt und sein bleibendes Erbe prägt.
- 2024
- 2022
A stunning musical biography of Stevie Nicks that paints a portrait of an artist, not a caricature of a superstar. Reflective and expansive, Mirror in the Sky situates Stevie Nicks as one of the finest songwriters of the twentieth century. This biography from distinguished music historian Simon Morrison examines Nicks as a singer and songwriter before and beyond her career with Fleetwood Mac, from the Arizona landscape of her childhood to the strobe-lit Night of 1000 Stevies celebrations. The book uniquely: Analyzes Nicks's craft—the grain of her voice, the poetry of her lyrics, the melodic and harmonic syntax of her songs. Identifies the American folk and country influences on her musical imagination that place her within a distinctly American tradition of women songwriters. Draws from oral histories and surprising archival discoveries to connect Nicks's story to those of California's above- and underground music industries, innovations in recording technology, and gendered restrictions.
- 2021
Having designed Roxy Music as an haute couture suit hand-stitched of punk and progressive music, Bryan Ferry redesigned it. He made Roxy Music ever dreamier and mellower-reaching back to sadly beautiful chivalric romances. Dadaist (punk) noise exited; a kind of ambient soft soul entered. Ferry parted ways with Eno, electric violinist Eddie Jobson, and drummer Paul Thompson, foreswearing the broken-sounding synthesizers played by kitchen utensils, the chance-based elements, and the maquillage of previous albums. The production and engineering imposed on Avalon confiscates emotion and replaces it with an acoustic simulacrum of courtliness, polished manners, and codes of etiquette. The seducer sings seductive music about seduction, but decorum is retained, as amour courtois insists. The backbeat cannot beat back nostalgia; it remains part of the architecture of Avalon, an album that creates an allusive sheen. Be nostalgic, by all means, but embrace that feeling's falseness, because nostalgia-whether inspired by medieval Arthuriana or 1940s film noir repartee or a 1980s drug-induced high-deceives. Nostalgia defines our fantasies and our (not Ferry's) essential artifice.
- 2016
Bolshoi Confidential
- 507 Seiten
- 18 Lesestunden
A Booklist Editors' Choice Selection An enthralling, definitive new history of the Bolshoi Ballet, where visionary performances onstage compete with political machinations backstage.
